Breeding Sugar Gliders

Sugar gliders are a newer, popular pet and many are showing interest in these exotic, marsupial natives of Australia. A sugar glider can be quite pricey ranging from 75-200 dollars a piece and already people have bred hybrids to make even more money from them. Gliders must be bought in pairs as they will not flourish or perhaps even live, alone. The normal coloring of a sugar glider is Gray with a black stripe or slightly less common, brown with a black stripe. Breeders are coming up with albino sugar gliders as well as other unnatural colors. However, for the average person who wishes to mate their sugar gliders there can be many unforeseen complications, both in the pouch and out of the pouch.

In the wild sugar gliders breed seasonally, at a certain time of the year, during warm weather when bugs and other protein sources are plentiful. Protein is their main need for successful breeding and reproduction. So, wild sugar gliders breed about twice a year,maybe 3 times. On the other hand, while in captivity, properly cared for gliders will receive a daily balanced, high protein, low phosphorous diet, which changes the whole breeding process. Some will tell you that they will breed as they do in the wild. However, my sugar gliders breed constantly and it is not unusual for a mother to have 1-3 joeys just out of pouch and more in the pouch at the same time. If allowed and not separated mine breed back to back. Of course that is hard on the mother. It is also sometimes deadly stressful for a pair to be separated so you really need to know what you are doing. A lot of these creatures are being left homeless or neglected because of thoughtless breeding.

You might encounter several problems in breeding a pair of gliders as well. While the breeding is the easy part, the hard part comes after the Joey's make the journey of birth and move into the pouch. If you know your pets you will recognize when the time is near. When the male decides it's time, he will constantly dog the female. He will follow her everywhere and be very attentive. The male will climb on mother's back and hang on for dear life sometimes for hours! She will loudly and rudely "crab" at her fellow. It can become quite rough but not always. The male might bite her back and the back of her neck. This is just part of their mating and you should not interfere unless there is blood. I have never seen a male get that rough but supposedly it can happen. I have noticed that the whole actual physical part of the mating usually last no more than a day or two.

Please don't breed without the correct information. These are living creatures that are very hard to read at times, such as when they don't feel well or are injured and there is still much not known about sugar glider care in captivity. I have lost many baby joeys despite all my research and time. To breed these animals for pure profit is cruel and heartbreaking. Once Mom is impregnated you must make sure she gets extra nutrition. Always sprinkle food with rep-cal or another calcium vitamin without phosphorus, even when not expecting joeys. I highly recommend purchasing Wombaroo to sprinkle on her food as well. Wombaroo is simply a milk replacer that gives mom what she needs to produce the right amount of milk for the joeys. Make sure mom has food and water at all times. This is survival of the fittest. Mom will kill or starve her babies if she isn't getting the nutrition and nourishment she needs. She may do this even before the joeys come out of the pouch or anytime after for several weeks.

When the joeys finally emerge from the pouch, don't handle them or do anything that might stress your parents. If the parents are stressed they will kill the young. It is just their instinct. A Glider will also kill or abandon it's young if there is something wrong with it even if it's not something you can see. Of course it is extra important that the joeys stay warm with a parent until it is fully furred or even longer as it takes awhile for the joey's body to be able to regulate it's own temperature.

Definitely do not move a cage with an expecting mother inside or joeys, this is too stressful on them. The father should do most of the care while mother mostly just nurses and sings to the young. Attempting to bottle feed a joey is not only a very large task but a risky one. A joey that is bottle feed will not be as healthy and likely not live past two years of age. I find this an unnecessary evil that will only sooner cause the caregiver grief.